We Are What We Believe
We’ve all heard the phrase, “you are what you eat”. Of course in so many ways this is true. What we eat becomes us. I’ve also heard it said that “we are what we don’t excrete”. This is also true, for physical nourishment as well as anything we ingest, even ideas. It is only what we absorb, take into ourselves, and hold on to, that becomes who we are. But the latest landing place for me in this conversation is that “we are what we believe”. In fact this is the topic of an upcoming radio talk show Sarah and I will be doing this week with nutritionist Tammra Green.
Our thoughts and beliefs are so powerful really. I see it all the time with clients and friends. See if you relate to these examples…
You believe food is the only area of your life you can say “yes” to yourself, feeling like your life is too full of “no’s” and “have to’s”, thinking to yourself you have no say in what you want. Yet, when you eat with this attitude you end up feeling like you have even less of a say in having what you want than before you ate that extra portion!
You eat the birthday cake because you think if you don’t you’re being a bad friend! In that moment you may end up being the worst friend to yourself when that cake leaves you feeling bloated and crashed on sugar!
You fear failing another weight-loss attempt believing you just know you won’t succeed, so you give up on it entirely only to produce certain failure to realize your desire.
You believe it is not okay or safe or possible to be a sexy, sensual woman and proceed to hide yourself in a body and wardrobe that strips you of any sense of feminity, sexiness, and sensuality.
You believe that the way you eat is shameful. You sneak and hide, believing you are unlovable, and in the hiding and shutting others out you are robbed of letting in the love you most desire. You withhold self-love, compassion and forgiveness creating the very relationship with yourself you’d hoped to escape.
So many people believe they can’t have what they really want. They settle for whatever’s on the “menu” instead of finding another “restaurant”, and sure enough they are unsatisfied; it is in fact not what they wanted.
Do you recognize yourself in any of these examples?
This is the self-fulfilling prophecy. We cling to our thoughts, unaware of how much they run the show, creating the exact reality we wish to avoid. We get to be right though, no matter how painful, uncomfortable, unsatisfying, disappointing or disempowering it may feel. What a price to pay to be right!
I believe there is a huge amount of power in starting to hear our thoughts; to listen to what we tell ourselves and how we limit what is possible. I invite you to begin challenging your own old and tired small-mindedness. It all starts with beginning to hear what you’re thinking. What does your mind tell you about food, about yourself? Isn’t it time to expose and challenge this old thinking and find bigger beliefs, ones that support you to achieve your goals and manifest your vision to live in a body you love? Einstein said it best, “we can’t solve problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Maybe if we watch what we think and believe as much as what we eat, we’d be onto something!
